Closed-back towel stand



June 24, 1930. F. M. STEINERET AL' CLOSED BACK TOWEL STAND Filed March 28, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet l fn vznzoff FRA' NK MJTE/NEE /f/GZ GoTT/-E/D 02.50A/

. A Ivy-enfers June 24, 1930. I F M STEINER ET AL 1,765,504

CLOSED BACK TOWEL STAND Filed March 28. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 'June 24, 1930. M. sTElINER El AL 1,765,504*

CLOSED BAK ATOWEL STAND I Filed March 28. 1927 s sheets-sheet- 3 'fnl/anfora FRAN/r /i/l STE/NER GQTTFR/o OL 50N @@WWM TfroeA/sms' Patented june Z4, i930 vUNITED STATES PATENT ssii;

FRANK M. STEINER AND GOTATFRID OLSON, OF IVIINNEAPOLIS,V MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOES TO AMERICAN LINEN COMPANY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATION OF MINNESOTA CLOSED-BACK TOWEL STAND Application filed March 28, 1927.V Serial No. 179,082.

Our invention relates to towel cabinets of the stand or iloor type adapted to rest upon the floor of` the `wash roomv or otherplace where the cabinet may be located or in a recess or space' formed in the wall of such room, andthe primary-object of our invention is to provide a cabinet of this type so constructed that the clean supply of towel may be inserted at the front of the cabinet and the soiled towel removed 4by the attendl ant standing in the same position in front of the cabinet. It is, therefore, not necessary to provide an opening in the rear wall of the cabinet through which access may be had to the interior or to move the cabinet away from the upright wall against which it may be placed, the loading and unloading operation being performed entirely through the.

front of the cabinet.

A further object is to provide a cabinet which can be arranged or mounted within a recess in an upright wall with the front of the cabinet flush substantially with the surface of the wall, a decided advantage in wash rooms where there is comparatively little space for a cabinet to stand out-on the floor of the room. l

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following detailed description. The invention consists generally in various constructions and combinations all as hereinafter described and particularly pointed` t a folds that may be formed therein before the out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification Figure 1 4is a vertical sectional view through a towel cabinet embodying our invention;

ready for use and arranged within a recess in the walll of the room where the cabinet is placed; 4

Figure 3 a perspective view of a towel fil a wall recess without extending to the floor of the room; l

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view on the line 4 4 of Figure 5; l e Figure 5 is a vertical sectional View show- Figure 2 is a view of asimilar cabinet-Y holder or cabinet that is adapted to fit into ing the holder or cabinet'of Figure 3 mounted within the wall recess; and i Figure 6 is a front elevation showing the appearance of the cabinet or holder to a person in the room where it is located.

In the drawing, 2 represents the side walls of a floor cabinet, Sthe bottom thereof having suitable supporting legs, 4; 5 the closed back of the cabinet and 6 a front panel or wall which, covers the lower portion. of the v cabinet and conceals the depending soiled web of towel therein. The top of the cabinet has a closed wall 7 with the usual mirror 8 at the front beneath whichis an opening 9. In the rear of this opening, we provide a shelf 10 adapted to support the supply of clean towel 11 placed loosely on this shelf and preferably we provide a shelf 12 above the supply of clean towel, the forward edge of the shelf forming a guidefor contact with the clean towel web, that is stretched from the supply 11 to a delivery feed roll 13, mounted in the side walls of the cabinet above the shelf 12 and having a suitable rougliened surface which will adhere to the web of clean towel. :A gate 14 is hinged at 15 to the shelf 10 and the hinges are preferably provided with springs 16 which normally tend to hold the gate in an upright position in Contact with the forward edge of the shelf 12, the

pressure of the gate on the web serving to smooth outy the wrinkles yand straighten any web reaches the feed roll 13. The upper edge of the gate preferablyk has a flanged folded forward portion on which the'web of clean towel is adapted to slide andy depend in position to be Orasped and pulled by the f user. The dotted lines in Figurey 1 Aindicate substantially the position which the clean web of towel assumes when it isfpulled outwardly to a using position. Then the gate 14y is in its normal working position, it will be substantially vertical and will conceal the j clean Vtowel* supply and preferably we pro- Vide a lock 18 of vsuitable construction for holding the gate 14 in its closed position and preventing any mischievous or unauthorized person from having access to the towel supply. The attendant, of course, will have a key to this lock and in loading the cabinet will release the gate and swing it to the dotted line position of Figure y1 when the clean towel supply can be conveniently placed on the shelf and the clean web stretched over the feed roll 13. Below the shelf 10, we prefer to provide guides 19 in the side walls of the cabinet to receive a take up roll 20 on which the web of soiled towel is wound and adjacent these guides we mount a second feed roll 21 also having a roughened surface and a driving connection, such as the sprocket chain 22, with the feed roll 13, so

that movement of .these'rolls will be simultaneous and as they lare preferably of the same size their peripheral speed will be the same and when the clean web of towel is pulled down by the user, a corresponding length thereof will be wound on thetalre up roll 2O through the frictional engagement thereof with the surface of the roll 21. Preferably a tension roll 23 is mounted in the side walls of the cabinet below the feed roll 21 which serves to guide the web of soiled towel and smooth out any wrinkles or folds that may have been formed therein. Notches 24C are preferably provided in the guides 19 to receive the bearings of the take up roll 2O when the soiled towel has been removed and preparatory to winding the .end of .another web thereon in loading the cabinet. In Figure 2, the wall 25 of the building is shown provided with a vertical recess 26 extendingdown to the floor and of suitable depth to receive the cabinet so that-the front thereofwill be fiush substantially with the wall of the room and thus the cabinet is adapted for use in wash rooms where the space is limited and generally the recess will be formed in the wall when the building is built, being made of suitable dimensions .to receive the cabinet. The wall in an old building can, of course, be recessed for theV y the. operationv of the driving connection 22 between the feed rolls. These side walls 27 are supported 1n the side walls ofthe recess as indicated in Figures 5 and 6, the recess beingV similar to the one shown in Figure 2 except that it does not extend down to the floor of the room. We willdesignate the cess, therefore, by the same .reference numeral with the addition of :theexponent a.

` The interior arrangement of the cabinet shown in Figures 3 to 6 is substantially the same as described with reference to the previous figures and we will indicate the parts by the same reference numerals. `In all of these cabinets, the attendant having unlocked the gate at the front of the cabinet, may insert` the supply of clean towel at the front and having removed the soiled roll can easily and conveniently stretchthe clean web over the upper feed'roll and from `thence downwardly to the take up roll `all while standing in front of the cabinet and' without the necessity of moving the cabinet away fromthe wall or having access through the rear wall thereof for any purpose. The construction, therefore, simplies the `manu-facture of the cabinet and enables the attendant to save considerable time -in the operation of filling the cabinet with a Vclean supply of towel -and removing the soiled portion. A further advantage lies in the `fact that either forni of cabinet can be inserted into a recess in the wall where it will be -inconspicuous and will not occupy space on the floor of the wash room which might be desired for other purposes. lVhenever desired, either form of cabinet may be removed' fromthe recess for examination or repairs or for any other purpose. Either form of cabinet may be made of metal, wood, or any other suitable material that may be found best adapted' for the purpose.

We claim as our invention:

1. A towel cabinet having a closed back .and an open front, and adapted -to Yreceive a. supply of clean towel Vplaced in said cabinet through said open front, said cabinet a take up yfeed roll khaving a driving connection with said tiret namedrollland:a ,surface to contact with the towel web on saidtake up roll and revolve said take up roll synchronously but in the opposite direction from the movement of said delivery feed roll. c

2. A. towel cabinet having an open front, and adapted to receive a supply of clean towel, a delivery feed roll to'which a web of clean towel may be stretched for delivery to the user, the front of the cabinet having an opening in Sits .upper portion through which the nserinay have access .to

the web, of, clean towel, av gate: nQrl'Ilally havingan opening lin its upper portion-and closing said opening in front of the towel supply, and having a locking means to prevent access to the towel supply, a shelf above which said. gate extends, the front edge of said shelf forming a guide for the towel whereby a web of clean towel may depend from said delivery feed roll and contact with said gate on its outer side in position to be pulled by the user, a take up feed roll having a driving connection with said-delivery feed roll and a take up roll accessible through the open front of the cabinet for insertion and removal at the front and whereto the web of towel may be stretched through said open front below said gate and wound on said take up roll for contact with said take up feed roll.

3. A towel cabinet having an open front, a shelf in the upper part of the cabinet adapted to hold a web of clean towel thereon, a second shelf above said first shelf, a delivery feed roll mounted in the cabinet above said second shelf and whereto a web of clean towel may bek stretched in contact with the forward edge of said second shelf, a gate hinged in front of said towel supply and adapted to press the web of clean towel against the edge of said second shelf and when open allow access to the towel supply, the construction being such that said web may depend from said feed roll in front of said gate in position to be grasped by the user, the front of the cabinet being open to allow access of the towel user to said web, a take up feed roll mounted below the first mentioned shelf and having a driving connection with the delivery feed roll and a take up roll accessible through the open front of the cabinet for insertion and removal and whereon the loose end of the towel web may be wound for contact with said take up feed roll.

4l. A towel cabinet comprising a back, a shelf in the upper part of the cabinet, and a door hinged to said shelf, a delivery feed roll in the upper part of the cabinet, the lower portion of the cabinet extending forwardly of said door, a tension roll in the projecting lower portion of the cabinet, and a soiled towel roll above and to the rear of the 'tension roll having a feed roll below the soiled towel roll geared to the delivery roll in the tcp of the cabinet whereby, by opening the door in the front of the cabinet, a suppy of clean towel can be placed upon the said shelf and the towel be stretched upwardly over the upper delivery roll and the Y toweling may hang in front of the door and straight down into the projecting lower portion and below said tension roll, thence pass f upwardly to the soiled towel roll, and a pull t0 delivervthe soiled portion of the towel to the front of the cabinet.

5. A towel cabinet having a fixed shelf therein for holding a supply of clean toweling, a door extending upwardly in front of said shelf and terminating short of the top wall of said cabinet, instrumentalities mounting said door for swinging movement on said cabinet, the upper edge of said door being provided with means for contacting with and directing toweling downwardly in front of and spaced from said door into position of use.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 24th day of March, 1927.

FRANK M. STEINER. GOTTFRID OLSON. 

